Services such as Netflix and Hulu will soon be free to access on Xbox One and Xbox 360, a new report has claimed.

Traditionally streaming video and other apps have been reserved only for those who subscribe to Xbox Live Gold, which has always placed Microsoft at a strategic disadvantage compared to Sony and Nintendo, both of whom offer access to the apps for free.

ArsTechnica reckons that Microsoft is preparing to unshackle streaming media apps and make them available to Silver users – although the price may be that other, currently accessible services are locked away instead.

The site adds that Microsoft has not yet made a final decision, although it does say that the possible change in policy is directly linked to a changing of the Xbox guard after Don Mattrick left the company to become Zynga's CEO”.